February 2010: Murder in Red

February is the month for things red, you know...like roses and valentines. And maybe blood.  So I went through my tbr pile seeking out mystery and crime books that have some form of the word "red" in their titles, and those are the ones I'm focusing on for the month. I know it's the month for love, but I'm not a love story kind of person.

Of course, there's always the inevitable and continuing slow crawl through the tbr pile, as well as the books I've promised to review, and some books that are part of the series of the featured books that I need to read beforehand.  If you like murder mysteries, you'll definitely get your fill from me this month.

Vienna Secrets, by Frank Tallis

First, my thanks to Random House, who sent me an ARC of this book.

This is book #4 (and the most recent) of the series entitled The Liebermann Papers, set in turn-of-the-century Vienna.  Although this one wasn't my favorite of the series -- that honor goes to Fatal Lies -- it was still a good read.

A series of grisly and seemingly impossible murders is keeping the police busy in Vienna.  People are being decapitated in a most gruesome fashion -- their heads seemed to have been literally ripped off.  But there are no suspects, no clues, and the method of death confounds the authorities.  Oskar Rheinhardt calls once again on Max Liebermann, the young psychiatrist who is a serious follower of Sigmund Freud, to help wrap their collective heads around these crimes and try to fathom who could be responsible.  But crime is not the only thing Liebermann has on his mind.

Once again, we are transported back to that time period through Frank Tallis' writing...the coffeehouses, architecture, music and culture of Vienna are vividly portrayed.  He also briefly introduces his readers to the beauty of Prague's culture of the time in a whirlwind tour to that city, and to a bit of Jewish mysticism.   But there's also a darker side rising up alongside all of  the gaiety, and that is the true focus of this novel (and also explains the UK title of this book, Darkness Rising -- which, imho, is the ultimate perfect title). At this time in Vienna, anti-Semitism is rearing its ugly head, beginning to grow in force (indeed, throughout the empire itself), and Max himself has become a target. There is a definite foreshadowing of what's to come for these citizens later, which gives this book (and indeed, the overall series) a bit of a darker tone. It's tough to just call this just a mystery novel because it's so much more.

Bluntly speaking, I was put off at first by the anti-Semitic musings being interwoven with the mystery part of it all, but eventually I came to see that the two components were necessary to each other. After I figured it out, what happened in the story made much more sense. I have only two criticisms of this book: I just wish the author would have decreased the amount of minutiae to sift through as far as period details,  and that he would have stayed closer to the two interwoven storylines without interjecting what Oskar was going to eat at the coffeehouse -- it's very distracting sometimes. As a mystery, the crimes were baffling enough and the solution was very different to anything from this author so far in the series.

I think that this book will do well for people who've already read the first three books, or for people who really enjoy historical fiction.  If you want a non-historical view of the forces leading up to the extreme anti-Semitism that follows this time period, this would also be a good place to start.  Overall, I liked it and would recommend it, and I would recommend that you begin with the first in the series Mortal Mischief, because the story is actually ongoing and you don't want to miss a thing.

Sunday is for Series

Wrapping up the Liebermann Papers

I've read the final book (so far) in this series, having just finished Vienna Secrets (review to follow). I think that the UK title for this book, Darkness Rising, is so much more appropriate, because the story has now moved towards the beginnings of more tightly-organized anti-Semitism in that city.  What's really good about this series is that Tallis enables his readers throughout all four books to see what kind of cultural and political forces led to the evolution of powerful anti-Semitic thought. The pieces were all in place for the worst that's yet to happen.  The mystery aspects of these novels were almost secondary as Tallis sets the stage.

Speaking of the mystery components, the crimes have varied, but Max Liebermann and Oskar Rheinhardt (the main characters) have always come through.  The crimes ranged from a locked-room whodunit in the case of a murdered spiritualist (Mortal Mischief), to the death of an anaconda at the zoo and a rapid series of murders that follow (Vienna Blood), to a bizarre series of deaths that center around a boys' school (Fatal Lies -- my favorite) and finally (in Vienna Secrets), to a set of very strange and baffling decapitations. Liebermann consults with Rheinhardt and through his understanding of Freudian psychology, is able to help the police in some of the strangest crimes that Vienna has ever experienced.

As I read the series, I have to say that sometimes I went into brain overload with the tons of period details thrown in by the author. To be really blunt, I got really tired of reading about what these people ate in the coffeehouses, what their clothes looked like, what music they were listening to and playing.  It's fine when an author gives you a little of this stuff, but sometimes I found myself skimming just to get back to the topic at hand.  However, some people like the minutiae of life so if that's your thing, you're going to love these books. I'm more of a "let's get down to it" kind of reader, and so I got impatient.

There's even been a bit of romance throughout all four novels, so there's something for those mystery readers who like a little love interest with their crime.  I'm not one of them, but Liebermann has an ongoing love angle.  I won't get into that here, because it will spoil it for anyone who may wish to read these books, but thankfully (for me) it wasn't so overblown as to take over. As I said above, I just want to get to the point and let the main characters get to the crime solving.

Who would like these books? Well, definitely people who like light historical fiction, and definitely people who enjoy period mystery novels.  These are NOT cozy mystery novels, so if your interest lies there, you may not enjoy this series so much.  In general, these books all tie together very well and remain coherent throughout the series.

It's been fun reading the last three but now it's time to move on.  That leads me to my next topic, this lady, who is Jo Bannister.  She is the author of the Castlemere series, set in England, which features DS Frank Shapiro, DI Liz Graham and DS Cal Donovan.

I've already read the first three, which are

1. The Bleeding of  Innocents
2. Charisma
3. A Taste for Burning

This leaves me to start at #4, which is  No Birds Sing.  I'll report back as I finish each one.

Valentine's Day Contest at Bookreporter.com

There's a nifty little contest at bookreporter.com where you can win a gift basket with lots of goodies (including Godiva chocolates) and books.  The link is here, so why not go try?

File this under "stupidest thing I've ever seen"

You absolutely have to check this out. It's sooooooooooo funny!

the newest in bridal wear

The Time Travel Reading Challenge

here's the challenge

I've already picked my books (5):


The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov
The Year of the Quiet Sun, by Wilson Tucker
The Big Time, by Fritz Lieber
Guardians of Time, by Poul Anderson
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons

I just ordered the Asimov to be downloaded to my Kindle, so I'll get going on that one soon!

I'm really excited about this one...I've read a TON of time-travel novels in the past and really liked them.

for those of you who loved Catcher in the Rye,

its author, JD Salinger, passed away today. 

Fatal Lies, by Frank Tallis

my edition

 After the last two books written by this author, which were rather lengthy, I was very happy to see a much lighter book here. Much more concise and taut than the previous two books in this series, Fatal Lies begins with the death of a student at a Viennese military academy. Police inspector Oskar Rheinhardt is called away from a ball to go to the scene; he enlists his friend Max Liebermann, a psychiatrist to go with him. Max has been helpful in the past with his experience in Freudian psychology,  and Rheinhardt is all for employing new methods in police procedure to better root out crime.  The two don't realize it yet, but they are stepping into a very troubled atmosphere in the academy, where odd things are occurring and everyone is doing their best to cover things up.

Tallis plies his readers once again with the culinary, musical and literary delights of early 20th-century Vienna, yet manages to interweave all of these with the darkness of international intrigue and the deep and brooding atmosphere of a group of troubled boys.  It is a good read, and one that's hard to put down once you get started.

I'd definitely recommend this one to readers of historical mysteries, as well as to those who have started this series and are considering moving through it.